minding the shop. by Phil Shils / two more by Phil Shils

are your in-laws who own the
store being overwhelmed by the
little monkeys that come down
from the trees and steal the nuts
from the packages? if only they
had a daughter like our jennifer
who is able to distract them and
plays with them like they’re
her brothers. such a light touchshe has. the daughter they had was
full of promise but she died and
now the shop is always full
of chittering while they
shoo the little things
away with brooms and yelling.

elemental.

wood is my
favorite element.

paper is mine.

it's not an element.
it comes from wood.

we used to talk.

this place is the
opposite of that.
it's where they
clone insects.

Phil Shils' poems can be be be found in Rattle, Sixth Finch, 2River View, B O D Y, Metazen, Right Hand Pointing and other places too. An e-chapbook about life with his daughter Lucia will be available in mid-February from Right Hand Pointing and an expanded print version will be published at the end of March. He has a badly run blog at : pshils.blogspot.com.